The 2021 school was to be held in venues across Koroit in the week of January 2-7.

Lake School director Felix Meagher said all was not lost, with an online school to be held to replace the regular program.

"After long and considered deliberation, the Lake School committee has decided to cancel the live school event scheduled for January 2-7 2021, and replace it with an online event," Mr Meaher said.

"This means that tutors and venues we intended to hire, the events we hoped to share with you, we can no longer commit to.

"My profound and sincere apologies for this."

Mr Meagher thanked the Lake School committee for its work, which he said would unfortunately now be incomplete.

He outlined plans for an online event as a replacement.

"The current plans for this involve taking a small band of tutors and production staff to Koroit to film the online lessons and events," he said.

"We will be working on the details for this over the next month and plan to put tickets on sale on October 1.

"If the filming cannot take place in Koroit, we will film wherever it is possible to do so, and a decision about that will be made in December, or earlier if it is clear a lockdown will make it impossible for us to film in Koroit."

Plans are for a Lake School weekend to be held in Koroit in last February or early March, which would include concerts to showcase what students had learnt at the online school in January.

This weekend will be subject to what restrictions are in place, with many people involved in the Lake School coming from Melbourne and other parts of Victoria.

The 2020 Lake School was the 21^st staging of the event, with students learning Celtic music, song and dance in classes across Koroit.

Venues used for the school include the Koroit Theatre, the scout hall, the railway station and the town's two hotels. Nightly sessions and concerts are also a feature of the Lake School.